By Nneka Nwogwugwu
Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva has stated that the COVID-19 pandemic gave Nigeria the opportunity to redefine the petroleum industry.
Sylva said this while announcing the dates for the 2021 Nigerian International Petroleum Summit (NIPS).
He said that “while it has been a challenging year for the oil and gas industry due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the crisis also provides us with the opportunity to re-define our industry for transformative moments.”
The minister said that the summit will hold from June 6 to 10.
“We have had to re-consider the dates in light of the current global pandemic,” Sylva said in a special video broadcast on some television stations.
He gave the theme of the summit, “From crisis to opportunities: New approaches to the future of hydrocarbons”.
It aims at charting the way forward for Africa’s oil and gas industry in the post-Covid-19 pandemic era.
“Let us all, therefore, come together under the platform of NIPS 2021 in our quest to return to the attractive industry performance that lifted the entire economy over the years,” Sylva added.
James Shindi, Managing Director, Brevity Anderson, event producers of NIPS swho spoke to the Vanguard, said “economies are going through challenging times and one of the sectors that has witnessed significant challenges is the oil sector, globally and in Africa.